Local Trio IAN Makes Noise in Boston Before Heading West

{“data”:[{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”Although it’s a common music writing trope, \”hauntingly beautiful\” is an apt way to describe the band [IAN](http://eyyunn.bandcamp.com/). Lead singer and guitarist Jilian Medford sweetly croons tales of the heart both longing and sad. In recordings, Medford’s vocals are layered with lots of reverb, but underneath she is a powerful singer. I got a chance to see her solo with just an electric guitar and a microphone \\(Elvis Costello style\\) in JP and learned this firsthand.\n”}},{“type”:”html”,”data”:{“text”:”“}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”The band hasn’t been around very long and was formed rather quickly last March.\n\n“The band is really goofy and fun. We’ve only been playing together for about a year. \\[Drummer Tim Cheney\\] and I met last March. Like a week after I met him we went on tour together. So that’s how the relationship started. It was a very fast paced sort of thing. Our old drummer quit and I was like ‘Oh fuck’ because we had the tour planned \\[last March\\],” said Medford. “I met Tim and I was like ‘by chance do you play drums? Do you have a car? Are you around for a few weeks?’ He was like ‘yeah yeah yeah,’ and we just did it.”\n\nMedford eventually recruited bassist Damien Scalise over the summer and the band has been playing around Boston at venues like T.T. the Bears Place and dozens of basement shows.\n\n“We just got tighter every show and people kept telling us we were getting better, which is scary because that means you can’t stop getting better. Or it just meant that the bar was very low,” Cheney laughed.\n\nThe tracks on their BUFU Records release “Ian” are songs reworked and fleshed out from Medford’s solo EP.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3136-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3136.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3230-700×460.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3230.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3317-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3317.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3611-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3611.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3750-700×489.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3750.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”“All the songs that are on the EP besides one I had written previously and had released previously on record I put out last March called ‘Have You Ever Loved Anything This Much.’ They’re all super solo, super fucked up, lo\\-fi. I just didn’t know how to do anything. So I just sort of \\[through\\] trial and error put out what I thought was best out of all the mess ups,” said Medford.\n\nThe great thing about the songs being fleshed out with a rhythm section is that it gives the tracks more muscle. Medford has these gorgeous bedroom recordings made whole by bass and drums. The songs have a little bit of a ‘90s feel with chorus\\-effect guitar work and lyrically, Medford gets pretty personal.\n\n“I just hate writing lyrics in front of other people. I know these guys would never judge me, I just have this massive fear of people hearing my stuff when it’s not prepared. Like when I was younger I would be practicing in my room and my mom would be like from the other side of the door ‘that sounds so good.’ And \\[I’d scream\\] ‘Oh my god, get the fuck out’ and stuff. I’d be mortified, it’s like seeing you naked or something,” said Medford. “Once they’re fully fleshed out, it’s so liberating to play them, so appropriate. I feel completely comfortable doing it. It’s like gearing up to tell someone you hate them or something. It’s like gearing up to break up with someone. You just can’t do it bang bang. You’ve got to write down the pros and cons.”\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3606-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3606.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3626-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3626.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3740-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3740.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”It’s the reason people like the songs so much.\n\n“All of Jillian’s songs are very real. She has some pretty intense things she’s talking about and happened to her. But we can all relate to it too, and that’s really nice,” said Scalise.\n\nIAN is now gearing up to do a West Coast tour of Oregon, Washington, and Medford’s native California, playing with bands like Girlpool and Winter.\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3182-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3182.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3251-700×1405.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3251.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3297-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3297.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3744-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3744.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”“I feel like the tour itself will be really beneficial for us because we’re playing bigger shows with people I admire that I know are doing really well in LA, so I feel really lucky about that and that it can help open doors for us,” said Medford.\n\nAfter the tour, Medford will stay in LA and finish up her final semester of Berklee online. While Cheney, a freelancer in the film industry, will also stay in LA for a while, Scalise will come back east, putting the band’s future up in the air.\n\n“It’s been great with those guys. It’s just like hanging out with your best friends … it’s so easy to be around those guys,” said Scalise. “It’s big news. We’re just going to have to see what happens. You know I’m going to LA for the first time. Maybe I’ll love it, maybe I’ll go out there too.”\n”}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3260-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3260.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3278-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3278.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3348-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3348.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3568-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3568.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”image”,”data”:{“file”:{“url”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3615-700×466.jpg”,”full”:”http://www.bdcwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MG-3615.jpg”},”text”:””}},{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”Check them out for possibly the last time for a while on December 13 at Lasthaus for their farewell show.\n\n”}}]}

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